Absalom Woolf was born on 4. Feb. 1832 at Westchester, Bronx County, New York. He was the son of
John Anthony Woolf Jr. and
Sarah Ann Devoe. Absalom Woolf was baptized in May. 1844. He married
Lucy Ann Hambleton, daughter of
Madison Daniel Hambleton and
Chelnecha Smith, on 25. Mar. 1857 at Nephi, Juab County, Utah. Absalom Woolf married
Harriet Ann Wood, daughter of
Martin Wood and
Esther Ursula Eglestone, on 19. Apr. 1857 at Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, Utah. Absalom Woolf died on 17. Feb. 1910 at Hyde Park, Cache County, Utah, at age 78. He was buried on 20. Feb. 1910 at Hyde Park, Cache County, Utah. Marriage date shown church family group sheet (per BYU extraction) 25Mar1857 in Salt Lake City, Ut.(Reference: Family Group Sheet-Self) Same record shows endowment in Endowment House, SLC 19 Apr 1857 Census 1860 Nephi, Juab, Ut. Utah Federal Census, Year: 1860 Vocation Farmer- Household of 4 with no real wealth and a personal wealth of $1000. Stockman, bred fine draft horses. Owned the first fine stallion in Cache County, it's descendants were known as the "Woolf Stock"
Came from winter quarters with the Edward Hunter Company and arrived in Salt Lake Valley October 6, 1847. Participated in the Walker and Echo Canyon Wars. Celabrated Golden Wedding Anniversary in Hyde Park. Two hundred descendants filled the Old Hyde Park Hall, where grandchildren and great grandchildren furnished the program. APPY WAS ADVISED: MARRY BOTH
by Ada E. Morrell
Absalom Woolf born, 4 Feb. 1832, in Pelham, Westchester
Co., New York was the oldest of twelve children born to
John Anthony and Sarah Ann Devoe Woolf.
John and Sarah joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter
Day Saints in 1841, and in 1844 with their six small
children they moved to Nauvoo, Illinois. Here one more
child was born. They remained in Nauvoo until 1847. They
came to Utah in the Edward Hunter Company which arrived in
Salt Lake City October 5, 1847.
By this time Absalom, generally known as Appy, at the age
of fifteen, witnessed and suffered many of the hardships
which the Saints went through during those early days of
the Church.
His father brought four wagons across the plains, three of
them drawn by oxen and one by a team of horses. The mother
drove the horses and Absalom drove one of the ox teams.
After a two year stay in Salt Lake City the family, by
request of President Brigham Young, went south to help
settle parts of Juab and Iron Counties.
Appy was a bold and fearless young man and so was called to
be a 'Minute Man' and for years, at his own expense, kept a
horse saddled and other equipment handy and ready for
service at any time. He was a member of the Utah Militia
and took part in the Walker Indian and Echo Canyon Wars.
For about two years he carried the mail, on horseback,
between Nephi, in Juab County, and Fillmore, in Iron
County, while hostile indians infested the country.
He was ordinarily cool-headed and able to make wise
decisions, however there was one that gave him a great deal
of worry: what to do when two young women, both of whom he
loved, wanted to marry him. Being unable to decide for
himself he sought the advice of Bishop Hunter who said,
"marry them both young man and the Lord bless you."
With the decision made Appy took both girls, Harriet Wood
and Lucy Ann Hambleton, each just sixteen years of age, to
Salt Lake and married them in the Endowment House on April
19, 1857.
They set up housekeeping in Nephi where they remained for
four years, then they moved to Millville in Cache County in
1861. In 1865 they moved to Hyde Park, among other early
settlers, and here they spent the remainder of their years.
This union proved to be most ideal. Harriet had ten
children and Lucy Ann had twelve. Four died in infancy so
each raised nine, a total of eighteen, six sons and twelve
daughters. The two families did not live together but I
have heard the girls say that when they were young they
hardly knew which was their real mother.
Whatever produce was brought in was always divided equally
between the two families before any was used so there was
never any jealousy or hard feelings.
The wives were both frugal and wise. They taught the
daughters all the handcrafts common to the times. All
could spin and weave, could make hats and rugs besides
helping with the sewing and cooking as well as the making
of butter and soap.
Besides raising their large families, Harriet taught school
for several years and was active in the politics of the day
and Lucy Ann was a trained and licensed Midwife and
delivered hungreds of babies in Logan, Hyde Park and
surrounding communities. They were all generous and
big-hearted people and on many occasions took into their
homes a neice or a nephew or two or three grandchildren
whose mothers had died.
These wonderful people all lived to celebrate their Golden
Wedding Anniversary. This event was so rare that it was
given great publicity in many of the large newspapers and
magazines in both the United States and Europe.
Absalom was a farmer and stock-raiser and was a lover and
breeder of fine draft horses. His father owned the first
stallion in Cache Valley and from this animal came many
fine animals known as the "Woolf Stock". In Appy's
barnyard there were nearly always one or more men wanting
to buy, sell or trade horses or just looking at and
admiring them.
One of his grandsons was Georgie Woolf, one of the great
jockeys who rode to victory such horses as Seabiscuit,
Whirlaway and Azucar.
Mrs. A. V. (Rhode) Reese who is nearly eighty years old is
the only surviving child of this great man and his wife
Harriet. Lucy Ann's youngest, Miss Ida Woolf, died last
Summer (1955) however there are numerous grandchildren and
great grandchildren to the fifth generation who are loyal
and active L. D. S. Church members and many of them have
been or are School Teachers or other professional and
business people throughout the Western United States and
Canada.
Absalom died February 16, 1910. Harriet died April 19,
1912 and Lucy Ann died October 19, 1920. All are buried in
the Hyde Park Cemetery.
This article was written for and was published in the Cache
Valley Centenniel edition of the Herald Journal, Logan,
Utah, March 25, 1955.